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yolanda

smart hate?

44 posts in this topic

Maybe its just Saskatoon's horrible drivers but it seems like a lot of drivers, especially those driving behemoth trucks and sedans, really hate my car. They hate me if I move too fast, accelerate too fast, or have the gall to pass them on the freeway. Tonight a bubba in a shiny black truck elevated above his peers kept tailgating me, followed me off the freeway, braked at the last minute every chance he got, and followed me around a few turns as well as off my free way exit. Scared me so bad on the last one (and I had to stop for the light and the car waiting there) that I had to go into auto mode as I was too scattered to remember to shift!My crime? I got on the freeway behind him and he was going a bit slower than I wanted to go so I got in the left lane and got my speed up to comfortable speed and headed on down. When the right lane was clear several cars up the line I got in there and settled down with traffic. I had to use an exit not that far down the way so I wans't interested in speeding ahead hopscotching. Suddenly this truck looms in my rear view. I can't get over because I'm in the right, he isn't choosing to pass on the left, and i can't speed up because someone's ahead of me. That person exits and I expect the truck to do likewise or else why is he riding me like a bull on a matador? Nooooo, he doesn't. I speed up and he backs off and we carry on. Traffic gets thicker. I slow down to keep with traffic and he starts breathing down my neck again. Freeway widens and I move right. He looks like he's going to pass me on the left but then suddenly decides to follow behind me. I exit the freeway, he keeps following, close on my heels like a hound on a fox. I make a right. He makes a right. By now I"m looking for an open spot to pull off the road. No driveways, no parking spaces not even smart sized. it's friday night around a cinema. I make a swift smarty right turn and gun it down the block. I have to stop behind someone going straight at the red light. ~sigh~ I stop. I see this guy barrel up behind me so fast I'm not sure he can or will stop in time. Freaked me out to where I cried out in fear! Then the light went, I got free, hit the gas and barreled into the left lane and saw him turn into the parking lot behind me, possibly to head back to the first street where he probably should have gotten off the freeway.What is it with these people they can't stand to see a micro car with oomph? Now I'll be replaying it in my head all night trying to think if there were another way I could have handled him!

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Yeah record the license number and report the driver as a freaky stalker, that's what I would have done.

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I empathize. I had someone right on my ass last night (Thursday), wanted to do the flash the brake to see if he would back off but did not want to risk him being a total idiot and rear-ending me because he was that close. I was so glad when he finally exited but he had followed me like glue for a long while and I had make several changes /turns to get to my planned destination so was wondering if purposely following me, as well. Is it:A Tailgater plain and simple (though he had lots of opportunity to pass, as well)Doesn't like Smart Cars that can keep up with the pack?Doesn't like female drivers who know how to handle their vehicles and don't mind keeping up / passing? Also -- Mike -- hard to get a plate number in Alberta for a tailgater (no front plates) and if they never pass you to see the back end.

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What a night you had Yolanda! I can feel it. Had it happen years ago and did not have a cell phone with me. I was not in a smart car but in an Acura Integra back then. Did not want to go home as he would see where I lived so I led him a merry chase right into the parking lot of the police station. Never seen anyone head off so fast before! :D

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Me too, I was on 401 west of Toronto where it is 3 lanes and a lot of semi trucks and other were merging on from the right, so I selected to stay in the center lane as I was @ 110 and faster than the merging treffic. Same big black 4x4 pickup pulls up behind me and although the left lane was completely clear flashed his lights repeatedly and when I looked in the mirror he was pointing vigorously for me to move right to get out of his way. I checked again and the left lane was clear for miles ahead and behind as this was early in the morning and there were several merging sections ahead so I kept my middle lane. FINALLY he passed and pulled in front of me, slowed and continued pointing wildly in the rear window for me to move right. This continued for a couple of miles unless he roared off in the distance obviously very convinced I had no right to use his road.

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Another reason I like the remap. I might not get away from tailgaters, but I can make em' wish they weren't behind me! LOL :D

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Ya, I get the same crap every once in a while. It seems it is always some cousin-humper in a good-ole-boys pick-up. I guess inbreeding can cause this kind of behaviour....

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They probably just filled up their 120 L tank and are pissed that they'll be back at the station in the same amount of time we will.

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I secretly like big 4x4 trucks all kitted out. I'd get a personal plate that said "TWUCK".I seriously want an old Volvo Sugga. Painted black. With tinted windows. Jacked up. with mudders. and brushguards. mwa-hahahahaha.

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Edited by Gent

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Yeah record the license number and report the driver as a freaky stalker, that's what I would have done.

Hrm, #1 no front plates here anymore #2 I was scared and scattered #3 i was driving and could not have written it down. #4 there's too little proof to go on for anything.

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Is it:A Tailgater plain and simple (though he had lots of opportunity to pass, as well)Doesn't like Smart Cars that can keep up with the pack?Doesn't like female drivers who know how to handle their vehicles and don't mind keeping up / passing? Also -- Mike -- hard to get a plate number in Alberta for a tailgater (no front plates) and if they never pass you to see the back end.

Well yeah, these were all the issues that concerned me. Really nothing I could do. I did try flashing the brakes (but not activating them) a few times but it seemed to encourage him to draw closer. Could have been drunk, it was 10pm. Either he was completely stupid and oblivious or deliberately intimidating me. I'll never know. Had I reported him, he'd claim the former. Yeah, maybe my gender was involved too, hadn't considered that. I still wonder if I should have gotten out at the light and approached him with a stern look. I truly believe in the power of the middle aged battle axe woman. Men shrivel when a woman with power and maturity gives them that scolding look. Well, so far they all have, LOL. Could be one day I'll meet one who gets more enraged.

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Another reason I like the remap. I might not get away from tailgaters, but I can make em' wish they weren't behind me! LOL :D

I could have lost him if a: I wasn't already just over the speed limit and b: there wasn't any other traffic in the way. Hell, I am one who will sometimes slow to a crawl to make the point too, to force them around me. I didn't want to obstruct traffic so much and I wasn't sure what the hell was going on!

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I secretly like big 4x4 trucks all kitted out. I'd get a personal plate that said "TWUCK".I seriously want an old Volvo Sugga. Painted black. With tinted windows. Jacked up. with mudders. and brushguards. mwa-hahahahaha.

It ain't the truck, it's the bubba in it. My husband drives a 3/4 4x4. It's a lovely truck, white with gold sides and a matching white cap on the bed. It's huge but doesn't loom over you because it isn't all jacked up. If a truck is meant for the bush it won't be all shiny and used to parking diagonally in busy lots near the store front, you know? It'll be scratched by brush, muddy in the crevices even after a wash, and dented by rocks in spots, and, well, used! These bubbas are really just out to push their weight around. I just wish I knew why our society is lately spawning so many of them. What are we doing wrong that so many people feel so disempowered, or are we created spoiled children that never mature?

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I find that that people who do drive carelessly do endanger themselves and the general motoring public as well and when and if someone does want to crawl up ma smarts arse then I either am or change lanes into the right lane and slow down to 5 miles below the posted speed limit and should the offender do the same then I'll slow down another 5 miles per hour as long as I am not creating a hazard to other NORMAL drivers then should the offending driver do the same then I just ignore them and find the nearest police station or a well populated gas station of some such and pull in to let the offender go on his way and harass someone else.

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I was self-deprecatingly alluding to the cloud of smoke behind my car when I floor it, not the acceleration benefit. LOL.

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Yolanda, Sorry to hear about your un needed stress brought on by another total MORON!They seem to have the, big truck, big tough guy and no one get's in my way attitude. He Hates to be passed, hates small cars, and probably even hates himself.It's a dangerous game they play for sure.

Edited by Coast Steve

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It's not about hate; it's about fear. Let the rest of the world go by...B :sun:

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Chances are the driver was impotent and under 5 feet tall.

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I still wonder if I should have gotten out at the light and approached him with a stern look. I truly believe in the power of the middle aged battle axe woman. Men shrivel when a woman with power and maturity gives them that scolding look. Well, so far they all have, LOL. Could be one day I'll meet one who gets more enraged.

Yolanda, you are a braver woman than I am !I confront no one, I mean no one directly if I am alone. I once flipped a fellow driver the "bird" for something and he got out of his vehicle and started screaming and yelling at me and pounding his fist on the roof of my old 1980 Chevette. I had my young son in the back in his carseat but that did not deter him. I ignored him and waited for a chance to pull onto the busy street I had been trying to enter (had had one pull into my lane - a must turn for them at the last moment and stopped mid-entering and that prompted his initial blast of the horn and my flip of the "bird"). Also saw another driver do a similar thing when a Caddy rear-ended a Triumph in rush hour traffic while I was a bus stop waiting. Road Rage is too real for me.

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Yeah, I was in my Tercel once turning left across Rutherford (3 lanes either direction) into Canada's Wonderland... traffic was so busy and I couldn't confidently find a gap to turn left through. Dude in a white van (contractor of some kind) behind me didn't like that I wasn't agressive enough and kept laying on the horn, flashing his lights, etc... when I finally could turn left (amber light maybe?) I crawled through the intersection, and then blasted it like 120 km/h down the service road into the park. He was right on my ass the whole time... when I pulled up to the queue of cars waiting to pay for parking he flew up beside me, slammed on the brakes, shot out of the car and started pounding on my window and swearing. I rolled down the window (scared shitless, to be honest) and talked to him as calmly as I could but he wasn't having it. Finally he gave up and I let him pull in in front of me to go into the park.I bet he had a great day there?!There are movies like Equilibrium that make me wonder if we really do need to have a globally-adminstered sedative to improve the quality of life of the human race.-Iain

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God help me, I don't respond well in these situations. I will probably end up getting shot some day.

I had some guy do something similar to me when I was 16, Duck. I tried to roll down my window to talk to the guy, and he frickin' hit me! Being 16, I didn't know what to do. It seemed like it happened and he was gone before I even thought to get his plate or anything.

That early event has coloured my interactions since then, and not in any way that I recommend to others. When one of these situations has arisen since, I keep an eye on the rager. As soon as I see them getting ready to get out of their ride, I'm bouncing out of mine. There is no way in hell that I'm going to let myself get smacked in the face while sitting down again.

It's worked three times since I was 16, but I know odds are that one of these days I'm going to bounce out to a crazy person with a weapon instead of a bully that doesn't want any part of a level playing field.

Edited by Gent

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